


Death's Doorstep

by Underwater_IcedTea



Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Afterlife, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Child!Riku, Gen, IDOLiSH7 Flash Bang 2018, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Reaper!Iori, not really but kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-08-28 20:05:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16729863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Underwater_IcedTea/pseuds/Underwater_IcedTea
Summary: Riku, at 10 years of age, awakened in an unfamiliar state. The boy felt numb; he could barely feel a thing as if he was injected with anesthesia. Was he floating? He opened his eyes, only to be met with pitch black darkness. He gulped in panic.The boy’s chest puffed in and out as he took a deep breath. The air felt clean; in fact, too clean. It felt and tasted minty and cold too, like if you ate a peppermint then ate ice cream after. In contrast, Riku’s body did not feel cold. There was no breeze, just still and quiet air. The redhead tried to trek somewhere to figure out where he was.Later on, he met a man named Iori. Iori had been kind to him, albeit a little ominously. Riku learned that the two were apparently in a world connecting his world and the Afterlife, and that the boy was headed there.





	Death's Doorstep

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was for the IDOLiSH7 Flash Bang ([Twitter](https://twitter.com/idolish7bang)/[Tumblr](idolish7bang.tumblr.com))!!!! Props to the i7 flashbang mods for organizing this whole event! They did a wonderful job keeping track of everyone and worked hard for the past couple months for this flashbang to become successful.  
> I was paired with Richa ([Twitter](https://twitter.com/swordbreaker06)/[Tumblr](http://swordbreaker.tumblr.com/)) as my artist partner!! It was fun working with her and participating in this flash bang in general!!  
> Also, shout outs to [alcloe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alcloe/) (also known as [smellie-cactus](http://smelle-cactus.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr) for being my beta! <3 
> 
> And without further ado, I hope you enjoy reading!

Riku, at 10 years of age, awakened in an unfamiliar state. The boy felt numb; he could barely feel a thing as if he was injected with anesthesia. Was he floating? He opened his eyes, only to be met with pitch black darkness. He gulped in panic.

The boy’s chest puffed in and out as he took a deep breath. The air felt clean; in fact, too clean. It felt and tasted minty and cold too, like if you ate a peppermint then ate ice cream after. In contrast, Riku’s body did not feel cold. There was no breeze, just still and quiet air. The redhead tried to trek somewhere to figure out where he was.

The slow first step he took felt surreal. As his foot tapped the ground, glowing white ripples appeared around his foot and spread out. Little bright droplets floated up before splashing back down. Amazed, Riku ran forward while looking behind him. Behind him was a trail of ripples which kept ricocheting against each other. Unexpectedly though, no sound of splashing was made.

The redhead crouched and flicked his hand through the liquid—presumably  water—underneath him. Droplets rose again as he gathered the liquid in his hands. The liquid was clear with white outlines. It looked weird as if someone had drawn it, the outlines changing every time Riku moved his cupped hands into a different angle. He poured some of the water and noticed that they acted like acrylic liquid in liquid hourglasses. Another thing he noticed was that his hands weren’t wet. He messily poured some liquid onto his clothes and saw that the water just dripped off instead getting absorbed.

He quickly stood up in pure astonishment. This place was definitely _weird_ , but it felt very nice to the boy. He giggled to himself and dashed with his arms spread out. With a large grin, Riku kicked against the liquid ground every now and then, surprisingly not slipping while he did so. He watched the drops of water of all sizes rise and fall every now and then. The little redhead felt like he was having the time of his life; he jumped and splashed around laughing for who knew how long.

Amazingly, Riku did not cough once. He accidentally choked on his spit once but other than that, he was fine. His lungs didn't act up, nor did his chest feel tight. It had felt like a miracle to Riku. His chest free of pain! Yes, he had breathed heavily at the end, but that was expected. The numbness was gone! 

Riku laid down on the ground and curled in on himself, sighing. All of this felt weird to him.

 

After nearly dozed off, he heard someone’s footsteps, as well as the faint sound of chains, slowly grow closer. By instinct, Riku automatically sprung up, knees held against his chest. There stood a man with dark, midnight blue hair. He wore a deep blue trench coat with golden threads lining it. Attached to the hood of the coat was a white and fluffy fur ruff. His coat had several badges on the man’s right and was buttoned down with shiny, golden buttons. There was a pin attached to the chest pocket on the man’s left with the symbol which Riku recognized as a double flat. His coattails were puffed out and looked like they were floating. Intricate gold designs spread from the bottom of the coattails and up to his waist. Riku could see silver chains under the coat were probably attached to the man’s hips.

The stranger softly greeted him with a smile. “Hello there.”

Riku wasn’t sure what to say. He knew he wasn't allowed to talk to strangers. He looked up at the man. Well, since the stranger was the only other person in this void, Riku had no choice but to respond. “H-Hello,” he awkwardly greeted. He then asked, “Where am I?” 

“In a bridge between worlds,” the man replied all too cryptically. The redhead tilted in confusion.

“Huh?” he asked. “I'm sorry, but what do you mean by that?’”

The mysterious man turned around and said, “Come, little one. I will explain on the way.”

Left with no choice, Riku gulped and began to after trail the man, water droplets floating behind them. 

“This place is a world between your world and what you would call ‘The Afterlife,’” he explained. “It is the bridge which connects the two.” 

“Oh…” The boy had understood what the stranger said, although he was still completely confused. More questions had been raised. “Wait, so does that mean—am I dead?!” Riku exclaimed, eyes widening.

The man chuckled. “No, not yet at least. Beings end up here in this world when they are unconscious and are on the verge of death.” That wasn't really reassuring to Riku, however it was a good thing that he wasn't dead yet.

The two stayed quiet until Riku piped up. “So… What's your name?”

“My name is Izumi Iori. What is yours?" 

“I'm Nanase Riku!”

… 

The two awkwardly traveled next to each other. Both were quiet.

“I apologize, Nanase-kun. I'm not that good with making conversation.”

Riku shook his head. “It's fine! I can just ask questions if you want.”

“Sure, then.”

 

* * *

 

 “Ah, there it is.” Iori pointed his finger forward. Looking at where Iori pointed to, Riku's breath hitched and he nearly dropped his jaw in pure awe.

In front of the two stood humongous double doors. Like Iori’s coat, it was lined with shining gold, intricate designs on the bottom half of the doors rooting in. Even the tiny handles which were normal sized were pure gold. Although, the handles were locked by rusty silver chains.

The top half of the doors blew Riku away. On each of the doors, the top halves were completely stained glass. The left door showed a stained glass portrait of a being who wore a large black robe akin to a reaper. The reaper faced to the right, holding what seems to be a blue soul in their hands. The palette of the portrait was mainly dark blue with some other colors thrown in as well. The right door showed a portrait of a being in white robes facing to the left. The figure’s hair radiated of bright orange and they had wore a bright smile as the held held an orange colored soul. The portrait's palette was half light blue and half orange, which was an interesting combination to Riku, if he were to be honest. RIku could see light filter through the glass as well, which was truly captivating. Rays of light shimmered through the air and painted the reflections of the portraits onto the ground.

Riku was a smart kid; if he were to guess, the left portrait would be Iori and thus making the right portrait—The child looked back at Iori and asked, “Is the guy on the right your br—”

The redhead was cut off by a torrent of immense pain. Waves of pain started to pound everywhere in and on his body. Riku’s knees buckled and his hands immediately shot up to grab his head. His head especially felt like hell. It felt like twenty migraines were combined into one huge one. Riku screamed as he crumpled against the floor from the agony. His body had felt like it was one fire—maybe even more than that. Hot tears fell onto the liquid floor as the child kept writhing in his suffering.

All too quickly, all the pain dissipated instantly. He was felt with a dull soreness in his body. Wobbling, the boy stood up and looked around for Iori.

Iori’s clothes had changed. Now almost matching the portrait, he wore a large black robe which has its tips reaching the ground. Gleaming silver chains wrapped around his waist like a belt and both ends of the chain dangled loosely. His eyes glowed a deep and captivating azure blue.

The man’s lips pursed. He then announced to the boy, “It is time, Nanase-kun. You must go now.” He turned around and swiftly walked towards the doors. “I will wait by the door. We must not wait any longer.” The sound of chains echoed everywhere. They were much louder than before.

“Wait—I thought you said I'm not dead!” Riku exclaimed, running towards Iori. The boy wasn't prepared for this. He had never said goodbye to his parents and never farewell to Tenn-nii!

Iori’s pacing slowed down. “That is what I had thought since you are only a child,” he replied. “However, it looks like fate had other plans.” The doors were right in front of him, only a few meters away. He turned around with a somber expression, “I'm so sorry, Nanase-kun.” He then took a few steps to the side. The handles of the doors did not have chains and a lock on them now.

“It’s alright, Izumi-san…” he replied with a broken voice, looking down. He looked up with glossy eyes and a trembling smile. “It’s not your fault. It’s just…” Riku paused as he started to sniff. “I-I never thought things would turn out this way! I wanna be with Tenn-nii again!” Heated tears started to rain down his face as he started to sob.

Shocked, Iori quickly went over to Riku. He started to mumble that everything would be fine. He tried to comfort the boy the best he could, but he didn't really know how to. He wiped the redhead's salty tears with his sleeves and stroked his hands through his fiery red hair.

After Riku calmed down, the boy decided that he should go. “T-Thank you for ever— _hic!_ —thing, Izum— _hic!_ —-san,” Riku hiccuped.

“No worries, Nanase-kun,” Iori replied. “Now then, you've been here for too long now.” He motioned towards the doors. “Just turn the handles and push forward. It won't be hard.” Riku nodded and stood right in front of the doors.

He took a deep breath in and out before resting his hands on the golden handles. He then turned the both of them and pushed forward, following Iori’s instructions.

The doors moved back rapidly and handles somehow phased through his hand. The gigantic doors opened up to a wall of blinding white light. Squinting, he turned around looking back at Iori.

Iori smiled at Riku supportively. “Go on then. I know he'll take good and proper care of you.”

Riku grinned and exclaimed, _“Well, goodbye!”_

He then faced towards the light and entered through it with closed eyes.

 

_“Farewell, Nanase-kun.”_

**Author's Note:**

> Again, my partner who drew the art is Richa! ([Twitter](https://twitter.com/swordbreaker06)/[Tumblr](http://swordbreaker.tumblr.com/)) Please support her by retweeting/reblogging her art!! Her post with this art is found [HERE](https://twitter.com/swordbreaker06/status/1069113296685420545) on Twitter! Honestly though, RIKU LOOKS SO CUTE!!!! And she portrayed it exactly as how I did too!!!
> 
> ~-~
> 
> Social medias and Discord Server:
> 
> [Tumblr](https://wishing-sprite.tumblr.com)  
>  [IDOLiSH7 sideblog](https://ten-knee.tumblr.com)  
>  [IDOLiSH7 Discord server](https://discord.gg/edv8r9T)  
>  [Twitter](https://twitter.com/wishing_sprite)


End file.
